An amazing image of a star (Zeta Oph) plowing its way through interstellar space at 24 km/s. The stellar wind it creates as is pushing the interstellar dust and compressing it into something akin to a shockwave.
Zeta Oph punching through the interstellar medium. Image credit: APOD
I’ve taken a crack at producing some small bits of audio content in the past, my segments for the GGP, and more recently some promo material for the Aussie Geek Podcast. But never have I undertaken producing an entire episode without the proverbial net.
This week due to some issues beyond his control, Dave is without is usual podcasting rig, including the computer and all of his audio editing tools. So in an effort to make sure that the AGP #003 gets out as close to on-time as possible, I’ll be doing the editing and post-production for this week’s episode.
I’ve been learning some new skills, mostly thanks to Dave and with some input from the Interwebs. So if you haven’t subscribed to the Aussie Geek Podcast yet, I suggest you do so right now and listen to last week’s show and this, and see if I did an OK job. 
So here I am without access to the Internet. So what have I done? I’ve found a way to do my computing without the cloud! Here are some projects that you can do the next time you find yourself without access to the cloud.
Organize your Photos This is a relatively time consuming task that I rarely take the time to do. A “net-outage” is a great time to pour through the photos in your computer and group or rename the files. If you use a photo organizing program like iPhoto or Aperture on the Mac, or Google’s very popular Picasa on Windows you can use these programs to do much of the tedious file management for you.
Blog Something I find that one of my biggest impediments to getting a bunch of blogging done is my rather short attention span. When I’m online researching a story for an article I tend to get lost surfing the Internet looking for new and exciting things. Being offline for a few hours, or even a couple of days, can provide you extra time to focus on getting that article written, or in some cases provide inspiration for a whole new article (or two). I managed to a get a couple of good articles out of my unexpected “grey mode” period.
Write a Letter We’ve all said it at one time or another, often when frustrated or annoyed, “I’m going to write a letter!” Well, here’s your chance. Bring up your favourite word processor, or text editor and bang out some phrases that are sure to convince your audience that you’re right (and that you should get a free case of coke the next time you shop there). Letters to politicians or other elected officials are also great candidates.
Play a Game Assuming you have games on your computer which aren’t of the MMO variety playing them can be a great way to kill some time. A couple of games that I’ve purchased over the last couple of years are Escape Velocity: Nova (EV:Nova) and WingNuts 2. Both of these games are sci-fi shooters, with EV:Nova extending the genre with trading and other somewhat less violent activities. EV:Nova also supports a wide ranging plugin architecture that will allow you to download (prior to the network outage, of course) plugins from other players to extend the game or cheat the system.
So there you have it. A few ways to get your geek on without access to the cloud. So the next time you find yourself in a coffee shop and don’t feel like paying exorbitant fees to check your email. Try out a cloud-free activity. Hey you might even find yourself more productive!
This weekend I find myself, quite unintentionally, without any access to the Internet. Despite the fact that my wife and I have left the big city for the weekend to head off for a nice quiet weekend away, we had intended to take along a laptop with a CDMA Air-Card which would provide some Internet access via the cell-phone network. We did remember the laptop, and the Air-Card unfortunately I completely neglected to pack a power-supply for the laptop.
Crud. Now what? I have my MacBook with me which is where this post is originating, but I don’t have a PCMCIA slot in the MacBook to accommodate the AirCard. I will probably be able to pick up a wi-fi hotspot from one of the neighbours, but that’s going to involve getting in the car and parking, rather suspiciously, on the street outside someone’s house to get access to the internets. Am I that desperate? Can I truly not live for three days without my Internets??
I’m sad to report that the answer is yes. My name is Keith, and I’m a Webaholic. And it’s not just me, both my wife and I felt a mild sense of panic when we realized that our access to the Internet was going to be seriously curtailed this weekend, if not eliminated altogether.
Suffice to say the plans have been revised somewhat. We were both quite happy to do other things, we brought books to read, we walked on the beach, we spent some tourist time in a nearby village shopping in the local mom & pop shops. It was just a shift from what we had originally planned. Despite the fact that we traveled out of the Lower Mainland for nearly 6 hours to get where we are, we had still intended a rather Internet-focused long weekend. I managed to find a HotSpot (read: parked on the side of an unlit road stealing unsecured wi-fi) to check email, but the connection was a bit too unreliable to try using WordPress.
Well there’s my story of net addiction. What’s yours?
Photo Credit: Nataliej on Flickr
Getting organized… setting up your geek space. These are things that some of us find very scary propositions. My physical life has always been something of an organized mess. Recently I made (or was suggested to make) a drastic change in the way that my office was laid out (read: it was time to clean it up).
First, the before. Click through to get a full view of the disaster that was my office.
In taking the opportunity to do the cleanup, I decided it was time to replace the small Ikea computer desk which had served me faithfully for about five years, but is just too small to accomodate all the gear that I use on a regular basis (podcasting setup, flat-panel, printer, server, etc. etc.).
To set up the new desk, I decided pretty early on that it wasn’t going to be another $149 Ikea special. Though the products work well for me in most cases (judging by the amount of Ikea stuff in the house) it just isn’t rugged enough to go into my daily-abuse-cycle in my office. No, I decided that I needed something stronger and more durable.
I also decided that I wanted to have a hand in designing and building my desk but at the same time put as little effort into it as possible. I finally decided on a DIY geek project involving only three main components.
I picked up a couple of basic filing cabinets from a local office-supply store to make-up the legs of my desk. The cabinets are two drawer letter-size (A4) filing cabinets which are about 29 inches in height, and 26 inches deep. Long deep file drawers were a must, because I found a very special desk top.
The top of the desk came from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. The ReStore sells donated building supplies to contractors and DIY-ers with all proceeds going to support the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity. The unit itself didn’t start out life as a desk, but as a door. That’s right a door. I picked up an eight foot by three foot door that sits proudly atop the two filing cabinets, and gives me a huge open expanse of desk top to store all my gear.
Surprisingly enough, within days of me devising this particular desk strategy, Knightwise did an episode of the Knightcast entitled “KC0013: A Geek’s Palace” in which he described an almost identical desk setup. Nice to know I’m in good company. 
So anyway, the office is much tidier, and my new workspace is working out brilliantly. I now have sufficient room to spread out all my gear, and not have to sit a secondary keyboard on my lap if I need to access another computer.
The image above shows all the stuff in “the nerve centre”. From left-to-right:
So be good and organize your gear. Get yourself a nice flat surface and get your geek on.
Some things are just too cool for words. These guys must have had a ton of time on their hands, and an NES with a reference copy of the theme!
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed4CHkN-Dkw]
Still not quite as cool as the guys and gals from “Redefined” though…
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFTT01Symx4]
Until such time as I can find a viable (read: worthwhile) ad service to help offset the costs of the blog, I will no longer be subjecting readers to ads on the blog.
After nearly 9 months of Google Adsense, I’ve managed $3.56. Since Google requires $100 in your account before they will pay out, I’m on schedule to be paid out in Late 2028. A bit too late to cover costs of blogging (though it would make a nice almost 50th birthday present. :razz: )
The Amazon and TTZMedia affiliate programs have also had similar results with a payout from TTZ media due sometime in 2048… and that’s only a $25 payout.
In short, I don’t get enough traffic, and my readers on average aren’t the type to click on enough ads (hell most use Firefox and AdBlock Plus!) to provide an income stream.
An added bonus: the site loads faster now! :mrgreen:
Messaging and “GTD-ish” service Jott has just launched new local numbers in many major cities in Canada. The service has gone from one local number in Toronto, to twenty nation-wide.
Here is an excerpt from the email sent to Canadian Jott users today:
In an effort to protect your privacy, most Canadian mobile providers have blocked caller ID information from being passed to toll free numbers. This leaves the alternative of using local access numbers across the country, so that everyone can send Jott messages without having to pay long distance fees.
Here are the new Canadian local numbers
| CITY | NUMBER |
|---|---|
| AURORA | +12898020110 |
| CALGARY | +14037751288 |
| EDMONTON | +17806287799 |
| HALIFAX | +19024828120 |
| HAMILTON | +19054819060 |
| KITCHENER | +15199572711 |
| LONDON | +15194898968 |
| MARKHAM | +12898000110 |
| MONTREAL | +15146670329 |
| OTTAWA | +16136861502 |
| QUEBEC CITY | +14189072209 |
| SAINT JOHNS | +17097570047 |
| SHERBROOKE | +18193401636 |
| TORONTO | +16477245365 |
| TORONTO | +14168001067 |
| VANCOUVER | +17787868229 |
| VANCOUVER | +16044841347 |
| VICTORIA | +12509847093 |
| WINDSOR | +15198000031 |
| WINNIPEG | +12042728154 |
I’ve been using Jott off and on for the past couple of months, and with the addition of local Canadian numbers, I can definitely see this becoming a regular part of my GTD arsenal.
Just a reminder that tomorrow is the official “Delete your MySpace Account Day”. If you have a MySpace account, and you don’t use it, cut down your Bacn and join in the movement.
I’ve been thinking about deleting my Myspace account almost since the day I got it but always opted out of doing so because of the few friends I have who don’t have Facebook accounts. But by remaining on Myspace, I realize, I’m becoming an enabler. I’m giving those friends no reason to switch over from Myspace by giving them access to my Myspace profile.
Originally posted by Simon Owens.
Visit the originating website, or join the Facebook group.
I’ve just been directed to a post over on Simon Owens’ site Bloggasm that January 30th is to be International “Delete Your MySpace Account Day“.
As a MySpace member who only ever logs in to check on someone else’s profile about once a year, it just isn’t worth getting all the Bacn from MySpace. I completely understand where Simon’s coming from on this and have decided to join him in supporting this initiative.
So if you have a MySpace account and you don’t use it anymore, join in on International Delete Your MySpace Account Day.
If you’re a Facebook member, you may want to take a moment and join the associated group as well. Thanks to Tom for setting that up!